May Hill Capital LLC Takes $4.29 Million Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 17,133 shares of the iPhone maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,290,000. Apple comprises approximately 1.7% of May Hill Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $46,868,648,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $2.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $196.45. 51,276,660 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,959,574. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $201.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.37. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price target on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.86.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.